Chch cha!!

After carefully navigating the route to the airport and avoiding using
trolleys at $4 a pop we boarded our flight and headed to Christchurch,
our plan was to potentially sleep at the airport as we were likely to
miss the last bus departing for town. We arrived earlier than expected
so there was some hope of managing to get to town where we'd stay for
one night before catching a bus to Sefton to volunteer on a farm for a
week before coming back to town. Then we came to Immigration and when
asked where we were staying I readily provided this information. Big
mistake. We were stopped, made to wait then interrogated about our
intentions while here since any food or accommodation in return for
labour is considered pay, so we'd either need a Working Holiday visa
or to give this plan up altogether. Faced with this choice we had to
decide quickly, and since we had three seperate locations lined up
across the country we decided we'd apply for the Working Holiday visa,
so we were granted a two week temporary entry visa while we applied
for this, an apparently simple process. Second big mistake. After an
hour we were out and had missed the bus but had been left feeling like
criminals after an honest mistake so caught a shuttle to town and
stayed in an overpriced YMCA room but worthwhile if just to get away
from the airport. We then immediately set about applying for our visa
which we got sent off having been informed we'd need a medical since
we'd been in a high risk TB area recently, first thing in the morning
we checked at the doctors and this would cost us £250 each.. Ouch.

We took the rest of the day up by taking a trip into the City Centre, or
more specifically the Cashel Street Re:start Mall - a series of
shipping containers all vividly painted and operating as a temporary
(?) shopping centre in the wake of the 2010/11 earthquakes that
devastated the area. We headed on through the town to a supermarket
across town before getting back to business. We passed along the South
East corner of the red zone on this trip where rows of shops were
either mid-demolition, now car parks or fully stocked with no
customers in over a year.. It was an eerie experience, fascinating and
terrifying, grotesquely beautiful - carnage in the built environment,
something some people dream of though only those who have lived with
this reality can even begin to understand.. After a few more calls to
Immigration we hoped that things were under way so took a trip round
the Botanical Gardens that afternoon. It's a beautiful city and people
who arrive and leave without so much as a breath don't know what
they're missing.

We'd skipped visiting the Museum next to the park so we'd have something to do before checking in to our next hostel, sadly a decision to close it until further notice had come into effect, one
more building added to the long list. We headed back into the
Botanical Gardens before moving our bags across town. In The Right
Place was a great place to be checking into, a nice hostel and homely
feel to it, the owners more than happy to talk about the area and its
trials. The library wasn't too far away either so we headed there to
fit in some time on the internet before buying up a stock of
vegetables at a brilliant price from the local grocers - no joke, I
loved this shop!!

We'd arranged to stay at the house of a local guy through Couch Surfing so heading there the next day we were welcomed into a new home and experience. Our host was an inspirational
character, working, studying and volunteering plus hosting guests -
though not from New Zealand, he fits into the attitude of the country
perfectly. His tale of the second quake involved being in the shower
before running out into the streets in just his pants, needs must. We
were privileged to stay at his house despite his non-presence for a
few days by which time we would have returned from our working had we
planned it all correctly.. We'd mailed Immigration a few more times
and walked out to their office to apply for a full Visitors Visa, a
stressful afternoon.. A few more trips to the supermarket and the
Cashel Street mall where they held a Craft Market which was formerly
in the City Centre and we'd done most of what we could in walking
distance and it was time to go and visit our friend we'd met in
Laos.

Monday morning we arrived in Riccarton where we were greeted by
our friends mother since everyone else was at work.. After we went on
a flying visit of the local mall we were taken on a tour of the
outer-lying suburbs of the City. Firstly down to Sumner where the road
had been rippled, cliff-houses downed or damaged and shipping
containers lining the road to prevent further rockfall meeting the
road. There was a fairly nice beach with some surfers braving the
cold, also the land marker of Shag Rock which had been damaged, now
nicknamed the Shag Pile.. We crossed town toward the suburb of
Avondale where some of the worst affected housing was, liquidaction
having reduced roads to dust and the majority of houses
'red-stickered' so uninhabitable. Portaloos stood on most streets
where most running water and sewage had been affected in the
aftermath.. However from here we took in areas of redemption and
renewal, a group called Gap Filler have been utilising the spaces
created in a variety of colourful and enthusing ways, from open air
pianos to a book-exchange fridge and a 'dance-o-mat' where you have a
dance floor, stereo speakers and a laundry machine primed for you to
plug your favourite songs into and pump them out.. This is a small
part of the on going recovery of the area but with such positivity and
room for creative solutions then in time it can only become great.It
was good to see our friend again after four months, so we had an
evening of catching up to do.

We headed to the mall the next day, hopefully to see a film at reduced rates, typically the electrician
was in so our choices were both cancelled!! Instead we headed round to
Riccarton Bush, a small area of woodland preserved by the original
land owners. With the cottage on site being the oldest building on the
Canterbury Plain and the woodland itself being as close to what the
colonialists had found here, it was certainly interesting and
presented a surprising view of how much this land has changed so
quickly.. Two architectural students from Australia had also been
staying at the house as they worked on some projects to do with
housing and we had a big meal that night to mark their departure, a
few of the talks that happened that week were amongst topics crossed -
the chief architect of the proposed 'cardboard cathedral' being a
heavy influence upon their future outlook.Come Wednesday and it was a
public holiday to mark ANZAC day. We headed out on a road trip to
Lyttleton where we first visited a friend building a shed though they
hadn't reached the point where our help was required; moving on we
travelled all the way around the bay til we reached Diamond Harbour.
We took a walk down to the waters edge where we could easily see why
the area got its name, the sun glistening over the water making a
quite stunning scenery that bit more wonderful. We headed back up and
tucked in an ice cream before heading back round the bay til we
stopped at She chocolatiers in Governors Bay, a funky little place
with pretty divine chocolate on offer. We were good and only had a hot
chocolate each before heading back for the evening.

Over the next two days I was left to my own devices while Amy went to undertake a Red
Cross first aid course for her on going professional development, so I
tapped away on a guitar to hand and had a bit of a walk before meeting
her at the end of each day.

Come the weekend everybody jumped in the car as we took a day trip out to Arthurs Pass, the main route through
the Southern Alps to Greymouth and the West Coast. This meant a long
drive over the Canterbury Plains til we started climbing and didn't
seem to stop for a while. We did so to take in the Cave Stream Reserve
and the surrounding area before carrying on up to the village of
Arthurs Pass - so named as Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson reported on this
route as the most likely to allow access to the West Coast. It was a
nice small little place with very few buildings and resorts, the Trans
Scenic Railway having a station there being the largest structure..
After a light lunch we carried on a bit further to 'Death Corner'
where a viaduct crossed the valley..
Here as hoped we encountered Kea, the only mountainous parrot and a
cheeky and clever species they are. Known for picking away at anything
from cars to roofing nails - a cause of high fatalities due to lead
poisoning. It was wonderful to end our journey out having met these
birds, a beautiful species that will hopefully survive so long as
people take heed and stop feeding them!! We'd gone to another friends
that night for dinner with a spectacular view over the city, then
finally a trip to the local market the next morning before we got
ready to leave Christchurch and really begin our exploration of NZ..